Suitability of Different Variants of Polyethylene Glycol Impregnation for the Dimensional Stabilization of Oak Wood

The common method to impregnate wood with polyethylene glycol (PEG) is to store the samples for several weeks in aqueous PEG-solution, allowing for diffusion of PEG into the wood. As this method is poorly suited for industrial application, an alternative approach based on vacuum-pressure treatment i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Polymers 2018-01, Vol.10 (1), p.81
Main Authors: Meints, Tillmann, Hansmann, Christan, Gindl-Altmutter, Wolfgang
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aqueous environments
Cafeterias
Dimensional stability
Facilities planning
Impregnation
Industrial applications
Oak
Polyethylene glycol
Pressure treated wood
Shrinkage
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Summary:The common method to impregnate wood with polyethylene glycol (PEG) is to store the samples for several weeks in aqueous PEG-solution, allowing for diffusion of PEG into the wood. As this method is poorly suited for industrial application, an alternative approach based on vacuum-pressure treatment is evaluated in the present study. Using European oak wood and three variants of PEG, including silane-functionalized PEG, impregnation experiments at different PEG concentrations were performed. Significant uptake of PEG resulted in clearly altered wood-water relations and improved dimensional stability of oak wood. These results are discussed in terms of stability in humid and aqueous environments, and in terms of effects of the anatomy of oak wood on differences in dimensional stabilization observed along the radial and tangential anatomical directions, respectively. While both of the PEG variants perform better with an anti-shrinkage efficiency of up to 80%, the PEG-silane variant performs less effectively in this respect; however PEG-silane is clearly predominant in case of water extraction.
ISSN:2073-4360
2073-4360
DOI:10.3390/polym10010081